Steve Largent ready to root on Seahawks Sunday

Steve Largent was the NFL's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches when he retired after the 1989 season. He was also the first member of the Seahawks Ring of Honor. (AP Photo/file)

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While most every Seattleite is jumping on the Seahawks bandwagon this week, the real fans in this area have been loyal through thick and thin says Seahawks legend Steve Largent.

“I can remember years when we were 2-and-12 and years when we were 12-and-2 and the fan support didn’t differ at all. We’ve always had loud, vocal, very supportive fans,” Largent tells KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

Largent was the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches when he retired after the 1989 season. He was also the first member of the Seahawks Ring of Honor.

Even back in his era, before the world-record breaking noise at CenturyLink, Largent says Seahawks fans in the Kingdome were something to be reckoned with.

“I remember when teams came to play Seattle, they always had practices where they had the speakers out there and turned the volume all the way up so it would simulate crowd noise, because that was a factor for their offense when they were on the field. And you know it still is today,” says Largent. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the Seahawks, it has everything to do with the Seahawk fans.”

Speaking of his 14 years playing in Seattle, Largent says it was like a dream.

“It really is the ideal situation for a guy coming into the NFL to be able to find a community that bonds with him and he with it,” says Largent. “We just had a great relationship in the years that I played in Seattle and it’s something I’ll never forget.”

The whole community is crazed about the current Seahawks team, but Dori says it’s players like Largent that have kept Seattle stoked for its NFL team year in and year out.

“The Seahawks are getting it done this year,” says Dori, “but I don’t think there would be the love affair if it wasn’t for people like you and all the guys that played before this current crop that just made it such a special organization and a special event in Seattle every time there was a game day.”

This game day, Largent says he’ll be cheering on the Seahawks just like all the other fans.

“Don’t think that I’m not the biggest Seahawk fan in the world,” says Largent. “I’m going to be right in front of my television set watching the game this weekend and rooting for the Seahawks as hard as I can.”